11/20/12

The more time passes, the longer it seems to be before my next release of any sort. The latest issue is that I've decided to ditch GLUT in favor SFML, which seems to be more geared towards games. This means that I'll have to do quite a bit to all of my projects in order to get them up to date. There is a silver lining however: I can finally do sound and music! Also, I'll be able to not only do different window sizes, but also add a fullscreen mode! I'm pretty happy now.

Also, despite previous promises, I probably won't get much done on Chainsaw Deathrace done, if anything. This is because I've been informed that my current sprint game's grade may hinge on whether or not it has 4-way networked multiplayer. *GULP*

Also, I figure I'll start posting screenshots from my sprint as well. Here's where my current one is right now:

This came about during the 0 hour game jam, but my texture library no longer messes with an image when scaling. Just good, clean, pixels.

Also, for a number of reasons, I've decided not to participate in F**k This Jam. Nothing serious, but I don't really have the time or the drive to do it.

Last, but far from least, I haven't forgotten about Chainsaw Deathrace for Linux. Here's the deal:

I'm working on a prototype for randomly generated levels, as well as some changes for how levels are loaded. What this means is that I'll be releasing the Linux version alongside the next update. I have no idea when it'll be but I'm guessing it'll happen around Thanksgiving. Currently, I'm thinking of using Mediafire for hosting, as I've heard good things about it. We'll see.

11/4/12

This may not have been too obvious, but I mentioned wanting try the 0 Hour Game Jam some time ago. Well, the day was today(at 2 am). I would call it a success of sorts. (You can play it here, the name is Zombie Delinquent Shootout)

Here's how it went:

What went right:

The concept

I came up with something simple right before the jam began. This was very helpful, as I knew exactly what had to be done.

The engine

My engine worked quite well! I've really come a long way from when I was using love.

The graphics

I drew them quickly, but they didn't turn out as poorly as I had expected. still not great, but whatever.

The new scaling algorithm

I rewrote the code for scaling images literally just minutes before the jam started. Sprites now scale from an origin point(default center) rather than the top-left hand corner. Having said that, it's not perfect. I'll need to play with it a bit more.

What went wrong:

The graphics

As nice(ish) as they were, I spent far too long on them. It made the coding more rushed than it had to be.

The RNG

It would either always show your cat, or never show your cat. There was no middle ground. I opted for never in the end.

Porting

There is no Windows version. I considered compiling the game not to be a part of the jam, so I did it afterwards. After 30 minutes of fighting the compiler, and only getting a white screen, I gave up. I may revisit this, but not right now.

I ran out of time

I still made a game, but 10 minutes more would've really helped.

Oh, yes! Here's a screenshot full of Zombie Delinquents! Yes, their arms are guns. No, they cannot fire them. I didn't code that in time. :(